Reflections on the Miracle of Democracy at Work in the Greatest Nation on Earth

Poll Bludger version 3.0

Welcome to the new-look Poll Bludger, brought to you as part of a broader incursion into the blogosphere by wealthy benefactors/gentleman admirers at Crikey. Note parallel developments from Possum Comitatus. The site has a new address in the Crikey domain: the old site will redirect here. The interior decoration is incomplete, so don’t despair for apparently missing features quite yet. To pre-empt the complaint which is now no doubt forming in many minds: no, you do not need to be a Crikey subscriber, trial or otherwise, to comment on this blog. However, you do have to register, which means providing a real email address which you will need to verify – I do not think anyone can rightly complain about this. To pre-empt another complaint: this site is run by WordPress just like my old site was and will run in very much the same way, without the limitations you might be familiar with from the old Crikey blogging platform. Beyond that, it will be business more-or-less as usual. There will be a slight difference in my moderation policy, which is to say that I will have one. More on that shortly.

As you can see, all the posts and comments from Wednesday are present and correct, so please carry on as before. Please keep this thread for requests/feedback/bug reports/complaints about the new order, and direct political discussion where appropriate.

202 Comments

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  1. 151
    roxanna
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 10:35 am | Permalink

    I would encourage commenters to amend their profile names: the lower case names are freaking me out. As GP points out: “The trick is to change your nickname in your profile, save, then from the drop down list of display names, choose the capitalised nickname.”

    William, no can do. I don’t get the option. Tried with the avatar, but not that fussed.

  2. 152
    roxanna
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 10:35 am | Permalink

    :-)

  3. 153
    Dario
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 10:44 am | Permalink

    Thanks again Jeff, the site is top notch :)

  4. 154
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    roxanna: After setting your nickname, you have to save the options, then you can choose the nickname from the display name dropdown. Then save your options again.

    Having explained that, it seems silly, so I’ll take a stab at fixing it… and then send a patch to the WordPress team. :-)

  5. 155
    ShowsOn
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 11:18 am | Permalink

    Does anyone know what Poll Bludger 1.0 looked like?

  6. 156
    Cuppa
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 1:08 pm | Permalink

    Hi, it’s the poster formerly known as Rx here. I couldn’t use that nickname on the new site: something about nics needing a minimum of four characters. So, while having a cuppa I came up with the new nic.

    There seems to be a lot of threads open at the same time. Making individual threads slower-moving. I miss the fast pace Poll Bludger had when only a couple of threads were hot at any one time.

    I also find myself have to horizontally scroll, which is painful.

    Now that my “complaints” are out of the way, congratulations William. Onward and upward.

    All the best with this new chapter of PB.

  7. 157
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 1:46 pm | Permalink

    Cuppa: Click on “Profile” at the top and set your nickname, save, then choose it from the list of display names. Then save again. :-)

  8. 158
    thepeeps
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 1:48 pm | Permalink

    william, will you still be doing your excellent live blogging when elections are held or is that not possible now?

  9. 159
    Ophuph Hucksake
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 1:57 pm | Permalink

    Chistian Kerr out, PB and Possum in. Crikey is definitely on the improve. If they can stop publishing asinine denialist letters from Tamas Calderwood in their daily E-mail I might even subscribe again …

  10. 160
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 1:57 pm | Permalink

    He’ll still be able to do it here, but we’re going to add some extra stuff to make liveblogging work really nicely… fast for the live-blogger and the live-audience. :-)

  11. 161
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 2:01 pm | Permalink

    Very excited to hear that Jeff – it’s long occurred to me that there must be better ways to do live blogging than what I’ve traditionally done.

  12. 162
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    It’ll have to improve a lot more before I have anything to do with Crikey again. It’s painful enough having to come here to visit William and Possum.

    When are we going to be able to post photos to this blog? That’s lots of fun.

  13. 163
    juliem
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 3:02 pm | Permalink

    William, are you “live blogging” for the US election or only the Aussie ones? (i.e like ACT next month)

  14. 164
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 3:06 pm | Permalink

    Constructive suggestions always welcome. :-)

  15. 165
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 3:13 pm | Permalink

    Like at the Axis History Forum. I’m sure people here would like to see my concentration camp photos :)

  16. 166
    Jewelled Cats
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 3:43 pm | Permalink

    Test

  17. 167
    Jewelled Cats
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 3:45 pm | Permalink

    How do I get bloggers response number to appear?

  18. 168
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 3:51 pm | Permalink

    Photos on the blog!?!

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

    Dr Carr will be giving us slide nights!

  19. 169
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 4:26 pm | Permalink

    The site comes over pretty good on my mobile as well.

  20. 170
    ruawake
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 4:34 pm | Permalink

    FYI

    The gravatar is email addy dependent – if you get a message saying username pinched by some swine – just register a name, any old name, but use the email addy you registered here with.

    Then hey presto – gravatar with correct user name. :)

  21. 171
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 5:09 pm | Permalink

    And why not , Possum?

  22. 172
    roxanna
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 6:48 pm | Permalink

    I like this site. It’s easy to use, it looks good and I don’t mind being a lower-case person ;-)

  23. 173
    albertross
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 6:53 pm | Permalink

    lower-case person

    Is there a fix yet for this

  24. 174
    ruawake
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 7:22 pm | Permalink

    I’ve always been a lowercase kind of guy. :)

  25. 175
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 7:29 pm | Permalink

    Would be good to be able to login on the Header rather than click login then enter login and password. I’m sure there’s room for both fields even if small. Could still leave the link for the site/sight impaired.

    Links to photos should be fine, I think. Maybe a compromise is that thumbnails (like the Gravatars) would be permitted. If someones on dialup or using a phone you don’t want a blog to be full of Dr. Adam’s or anyone else’s indulgent images. Still they do add to readability and posting graphs as well as tables or calcs could be psephologically effective.

  26. 176
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:14 pm | Permalink

    albertross: Click “Profile” up at the top and choose a display name (you can even choose an arbitrary nickname).

  27. 177
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:31 pm | Permalink

    Dial-up *ptui*

  28. 178
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:33 pm | Permalink

    Disaster boy: Yeah, definitely going to do an inline/popup login thingy, which will be much sexier. People without javascript (or who require a11y support) can just click through to the normal one.

  29. 179
    Mary Hannah Wade
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:34 pm | Permalink

    Any chance of making the avatars bigger?

  30. 180
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:41 pm | Permalink

    Might get in the way a bit in these mad crazy threads… but I could make them pop up a bigger version if you hover over them. That might be cute. :-)

  31. 181
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:44 pm | Permalink

    Thanks Jeff. Good stuff.

    Just the fights over who’s can get the biggest Avatar and whether to flood the ‘blog with piccies, to go. :-)

    I don’t mind pictures or bigger vatar’s , just a bit of netquete to avoid oversized images being posted. :-)

  32. 182
    Mary Hannah Wade
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:45 pm | Permalink

    Thanks Jeffy Bear

  33. 183
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8:51 pm | Permalink

    Darth Vatar’s! Obviously I meant Avatar… @ 181

  34. 184
    Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 9:05 pm | Permalink

    Testing my login

    Everything looks ok, actually – I don’t seem to mind it – neater, if anything…

  35. 185
    Judith Barnes
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 2:04 pm | Permalink

    it’s taken me two days to get this site to accept a password, they sent me one in the end thats a mile long and complicated, how can i reset it to one i’ll remember, if i wasnt so addicted i think i’d have run a mile, sigh.

  36. 186
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 2:20 pm | Permalink

    Judith: Click on “Profile” up the top. Password change boxes are down the bottom. What process did you go through that resulted in having password difficulties? Did you previously have an account on http://www.crikey.com.au?

  37. 187
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 2:20 pm | Permalink

    Judith, when you’re logged in it should say “Site Admin” or “Profile” on the top right of the page. Click on this and you’ll see a number of options for your account, including setting your own password at the bottom.

  38. 188
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 2:20 pm | Permalink

    Snap …

  39. 189
    harrysnapperorgans
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:09 pm | Permalink

    Just a test to see if the gravatar works.

  40. 190
    harrysnapperorgans
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:14 pm | Permalink

    Another test to see if the gravatar works.

  41. 191
    Harry "Snapper" Organs
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:22 pm | Permalink

    Yet another test to see if the gravatar works.

  42. 192
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:27 pm | Permalink

    HSO, it takes about 15 minutes to kick in (I’m assuming you’ve done it just now), and when it does it will appear next to all of your comments, including old ones.

  43. 193
    Gravel
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:34 pm | Permalink

    William and Jeff, I cannot read the numbers on my screen. I use firefox if that makes any difference. It is frustrating having to count the entries. Hope you can help.

  44. 194
    Harry "Snapper" Organs
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:35 pm | Permalink

    Ta, William. I notice you are Terry Gilliam’s God. Very droll.

  45. 195
    Harry "Snapper" Organs
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 4:17 pm | Permalink

    Gravel @ 193. I use firefox and can see the numbers on my screen, on right hand side rather than left.

  46. 196
    Harry "Snapper" Organs
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 5:16 pm | Permalink

    Umm, it’s a bit odd, William and Jeff. The gravatar now works on Possum’s site but still not here. Should I take it up with the gravatar mob?

  47. 197
    Posted Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 11:02 pm | Permalink

    Harry: Press Shift-Reload — to make sure the browser doesn’t try to load stuff from its cache — and it’ll appear. Hooray for the political analysis of E. P. Gumby. :-)

  48. 198
    Roxanna
    Posted Monday, September 15, 2008 at 5:21 pm | Permalink

    Hey, I got capitals! :-) )

  49. 199
    enjaybee
    Posted Monday, September 15, 2008 at 6:27 pm | Permalink

    Testing

  50. 200
    enjaybee
    Posted Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 7:57 pm | Permalink

    testing block quotes

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